


Detected Undercover

by orphan_account



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M, Mafia AU, Mildly torture, Murder, hints at sex, mild sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:21:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24918286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Michael Jones is discovered as a cop by his mafia boyfriends. What will they do?
Relationships: Gavin Free/Jack Pattillo, Gavin Free/Jack Pattillo/Michael Jones, Gavin Free/Michael Jones, Michael Jones/Jack Pattillo
Kudos: 16





	Detected Undercover

Michael let out a breath of air, shivering. His hands were tied in front of him, taped over with duct tape. This was by far his dumbest stunt- getting caught by the mafia he was going after? Dumb move. Terrible move. They'd just left him wasting away in what was essentially a closet now for nearly 6 hours, it felt like. Might have been longer or shorter, but Michael hadn't kept a good eye on the clock in the corner. There was some blood dried on his chin where he'd taken a bat to the mouth. His mouth was covered with duct tape, and the threatened to take an eye if he tried pulling it off. He wasn’t about to take that chance.

They'd left him alone in here, with his thoughts. He breathed through his nose, made hard enough by the fact that he had a sinus infection, but even harder by the fact that he was sure it was broken. He wished he could take some fresh air in with his mouth, and his head rolled to the side at he looked around.

There was a window that teased him up at the top of the room. He leaned his head on the cinder block walls that built up the room, scratching the back of his head against it. He was considering the fact that he wasn’t set up to be out in the field. He wondered if he would ever see the outside world again, or if this would be his last sight. A shiver wracked his body and he squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head and trying not to think about it.

He heard the door open and he didn’t turn his head to ‘greet’ whoever came in. He knew who it was. Jack, Gavin’s right hand. He was up as far as he could be in this mafia without being a blood relative or marrying in. Michael shut his eyes, trying to make it look like he was asleep.

He heard Jack’s notable footsteps walk over to him and he struggled not to flinch or move. Jack sighed, and lifted Michael up onto his shoulder gently. The movement was much softer than Michael had anticipated, and he almost startled because of it. He sagged against Jack’s shoulder. It wasn’t the most comfortable position he’d ever held, but he would manage. He didn’t know why he wanted Jack to think he was asleep, but he hoped maybe it would delay his execution.

“He fell asleep? That’s a first,” he heard Gavin say. A first?

“I guess so,” Jack said, and he felt Jack shuffle him. He expected to hit the floor, but he landed on some kind of cot. Now he was genuinely worried.

“Well. He stayed asleep,” Gavin said after a minute or two. He sounded almost disappointed. Michael found himself even more confused, but he kept up the illusion. Maybe he would actually sleep.

Jack and Gavin’s conversation ended there. He heard the clacking of Gavin’s typewriter as he wrote something down, and he was pretty sure Jack was in a corner somewhere reading. He almost wanted to ‘wake up’ just to know what they were doing. He also didn’t want to, because he was actually being left alone, without being alone. It was weirdly nice, even if his heart was racing. Michael shifted a little bit, and heard the room go quiet, but then quickly return to their activities. Curiosity finally piqued his interest only a few minutes later. He was starting to get antsy.

He rolled over in bed to look at Gavin and Jack. Gavin hadn’t noticed him, but Jack was staring directly at him. He was confused. They seemed to be in Gavin’s office, and he couldn’t figure out why Jack had brought him there.

Jack cleared his throat to get Gavin’s attention, and the noise of the typewriter stopped. Michael became acutely aware of the smell of Gavin’s cologne, sharp and musky at the same time. It wasn’t like he could really sit up, or ask what was going on- Jack hadn’t removed any of the duct tape.

“Michael, Michael, Michael,” Gavin said. His British accent made Michael’s head ache. “You’re a cop Michael, really? And you thought we wouldn’t find out.”

Michael winced a bit. He was dead meat for sure now, and he went to say something, but couldn’t around the tape. A smile came over Gavin’s face, something that made Michael’s stomach tie up in knots.

His fingers went back to his typewriter, and he hummed, tapping away. A cold shiver ran through Michael’s spine as nothing happened for a long while. Jack returned to whatever it was he was reading, and Gavin typed and moved paper before addressing him again. Michael flexed his hands, feeling deeply antsy as he waited for something to happen. Gavin pulled his paper free and turned his head to Michael, and the smile was back.

“I’ve typed up a contract for you,” Gavin said, laying it out on his desk and beckoning Michael to come read it. Michael did so, sitting in the ornate chair that was in front of Gavin’s desk. Gavin hummed, reaching over and ripping the tape off Michael’s mouth. Michael flinched.

“A contract?” he said, sound confused. He grabbed the paper with his bound hands and read it over while Gavin explained.

“Ah, well, you see. We’ll be faking your death, and I’d like to have it on record that you agreed to it. Of course, if you don’t, then we really will kill you,” Gavin said.

“Contracts signed under duress don’t count,” Michael said, defiantly. He stared his would-be boyfriend in the eye and narrowed them.

“For the police. For the law, they don’t. But the Mafia makes a point about not caring about that sort of thing,” Gavin said, pulling out a blue ink pen for Michael to sign with.

“Then why does the mafia care at all about making up contracts that have no meaning?” Michael said, letting the pen roll to just the edge of the table. He didn’t want to fiddle with trying to hold the paper and the pen with his hands bound the way they were.

“They have meaning to us,” Gavin says. “Not in a properly binding way, I suppose. Sign the contract.”

“You’ll have to untie my hands,” Michael replied, a fire burning in his eyes. Gavin snapped, and Jack came to his side and cut his wrists free with a pocket knife, nicking Michael rather harshly on his palm.

“Oops,” Jack said, bitterly. Michael did what the mafia considered to be an ultimate betrayal. The only reason he wasn’t yet dead was because they clearly needed him for something. Maybe Gavin and Jack really did love him after all.

Michael held his nicked hand close to his mouth, sucking on it to try and stop the bleeding. He didn’t keep it up for very long because he was more concerned with signing the damn contract before they decided to kill him. He winced and took up the pen, signing his name on the line provided.

“There. You happy now?” Michael asked, glaring up at Gavin. It all happened in one smooth motion: Jack grabbing his hair and pulling his head back, the cool steel of a knife being pressed into his throat, and Gavin getting right up in his face.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to be happy with you again. I might have you again, but I’ll never be happy to see your face, every day, for the rest of my life,” Gavin said, spitting off to the side. He was leaned rather gracefully over his desk, having crawled up it to make sure his imminent rage was very, very clear to Michael.

Jack twisted his hair until Michael winced and then let go. Gavin settled back in his seat. “Take him to the back. He has paperwork to go through,” Gavin said, waving his hand as if nothing had just occurred. Jack hoisted Michael up by his armpits, as if he was a toddler who weighed nothing. He placed him on his feet and shoved him through a door Michael had never been allowed through. File cabinets galore greeted him, and confusion grew ever higher on Michael’s face as he was led to a desk in the center of it all.

“This is every record Gavin has ever accrued over his time as don. Your job is to go through and file, shred, or burn them. As needed. Not everything is a legal document. There’s a cot in the corner for you to sleep on,” Jack said, leaving the room, and with it, Michael.

A few days went by before anything new came about. Michael went through piles and piles of paperwork-Medical records, financial documents, hit man paper trails dating back decades, to before Gavin. Some incriminating, some with no tie to Gavin, but none of them neatly organized with stickers telling Michael what to do with them. He could use common sense for most of it, and what he didn’t know what to do with, he put in a pile for later. It was, concernedly, growing larger as time passed Michael.

Michael honestly didn’t know how much time passed. There were no windows, or clocks. The only thing that was telling was his need to sleep, which he answered whenever it arrived. He felt like it was arriving more frequently than was necessary, as he knew his brain wanted to do anything except someone else’s paperwork.

That was the other thing. Why was he stuck doing nothing but paperwork? Surely Gavin kept him alive because he had bigger plans for Michael than just paperwork. An ever growing feeling of dread sort of grew in Michael’s chest as he tried to ignore the fact that something sinister could be lurking around every corner.

He often saw faces he didn’t know bringing him food. There wasn’t any consistency in it- sometimes they brought pancakes, sometimes sandwiches, occasionally full blown meals. It further served to confuse him, and when he wasn’t eating, he tried not to think about it. What purpose could him not knowing what day it was serve Gavin or Jack? Was it just their form of harmless punishment for the arguably harmful betrayal?

He still didn’t know for some time more, until Gavin finally made an appearance. His suit, light in color, was perfectly tailored. He just returned from a meeting, based on the cologne and get up of his look. Michael didn’t even so much as bother to sit up straight, and Gavin dragged a chair over from the corner, turning it so he sat in it backwards, across the desk from Michael.

“You haven’t even gotten through one filing cabinet?” Gavin asked, his voice managing both a bitter tone and an amused one.

“I don’t think you understand how many papers are in just a single drawer,” Michael said. The room smelled of burning ink and old paper, very distinct and sharp. A fireplace crackling in the corner kept it warm, and allowed Michael to toss everything incriminating. “I haven’t even seen anything that belongs to you yet.”

Gavin narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, his lips parted softly while he thought about that. “Not everything in here is mine?” he asked.

Michael laughed bitterly and said, “If it were I think I would have burned myself alive already. Why does the mafia keep paper trails on their hit man?”

“Because our forefathers were stupid, and didn’t have to deal with an ever increasingly smart police force. You are burning anything that could incriminate me, aren’t you?” Gavin asked, reaching out with a long, skinny arm and squeezing Michael’s plump cheeks.

Michael made a face and a show of pulling his face away. “That’s why I said I would burn alive. I might die of smoke inhalation yet, since I’m not sure if this chimney actually filters,” he said.

Gavin laughed and replied, “Oh, I wouldn’t be so cruel to you, Michael. Not after I’ve seen how pretty those lips are wrapped around my dick,” he said, fingers ghosting over Michael’s lips. Something in Michael told him to bite Gavin. He ignored it, because he wasn’t sure if it was meant as payback, or to get a rise out of Gavin to get him to fuck Michael into the next century.

Michael sighed from his nose and turned back to the paperwork, filtering out a ledger page which detailed some 1920s dental work. “Go digital,” he said, his eyes briefly glancing up to Gavin. “With how much incriminating shit I’ve seen in here, you’ll be no more at risk than you currently are.”

“Maybe I will, once you leave me,” Gavin said.

“So you do plan on killing me,” Michael asked.

Gavin looked smug, leaning forward to pull Michael close by his chin. He smiled, tilting Michael’s head this way and that. “There are fates worse than death. Haven’t you learned that yet?” he asked.

Michael swallowed visibly and once again, jerked away from Gavin and out of whatever entrancement he had with the man. He knew it had to be Stockholm Syndrome. After all, who else would fall in love with a mafia don and his right hand, when they made him to do their paperwork?

It was a long time after that before anything really happened with Gavin and Jack again. Michael started to miss them. He missed Jack’s callused hands running up his shirt as they began to fall asleep for the night, or Gavin sucking a soft hickey into his neck. He even missed when the two of them ignored him for each other, softly kissing while he pouted at the end of the bed. He found himself wishing he could sleep on Gavin’s leather couch again. He found himself wishing he could be anywhere but that room.

His wish was, unfortunately, granted by a face he didn’t know. A man he’d never seen before, who came into the room holding a thick cord of rope and a burlap sack. Michael thought that obviously, this was the end, there was no more Michael Jones. The man grabbed him, yanking his arms behind him and tying him tight, before strapping the burlap around his neck so hard he struggling to breathe. Michael fought bitter tears as the handcuffs came undone. The man led him from the room and down, and down, and down, until the sound of a running car greeted his ears. Here, the man shoved him in the trunk and heard it slam above him, and left to his thoughts.

That was by far the worst outcome. He hoped he was going someplace secret, to be with Gavin and Jack, but it seemed they had decided to get rid of him after all. Michael could not fight off the stream of tears that left his eyes, wetting the burlap around his head as his body to the brunt of every bump available to the car. The jostling never really allowed him to be truly alone with his thoughts, but it was enough that, by the time they arrived whereever it was they were going, Michael was hyperventilating.

He heard the trunk open before the man from before, presumably, grabbed him and pulled him out of the car. The burlap around his eyes and nose was not wet and Michael struggled to stop crying. He wanted to meet his fate bravely. He also, honestly wanted to see his fate, but he didn’t want to bring it around quicker by asking what the deal was. He heard Gavin’s British accent some distance away, talking to a strangely familiar voice which Michael couldn’t quite place. The man was definitely standing a ways back from Gavin and whoever the voice belonged to, but Michael still picked up on the pause in conversation as they noticed him. He tried speaking, but something was forced into his mouth over the burlap, quickly halting his words. Michael twisted this way and that trying to get away from it, but just couldn’t. He felt it strap securely around the back of his head and then he was shoved forward, stumbling a bit.

The familiarity of the voice only bothered him more the closer they got to the conversation. He could sort of see through the burlap sack, but didn’t have his glasses. In fact, he hadn’t had them since they found out he was a detective . It was part of the reason paperwork took so long. Michael couldn’t tell who they were meeting with, just Gavin and someone else.

“Well, as you can see he is...unharmed,” Gavin said, grabbing Michael by the shoulder. Michael swallowed.

“I can’t really see much, I’m not going to lie,” the voice said. Michael recognized it now- Joel, his detective partner. His eyes went wide under the burlap.

Michael expected that Gavin would pull the burlap off or something akin to that, but instead a pocket knife punctured it quite carefully and ripped up the seam. Michael flinched nonetheless, and then his eyes were exposed to the bright sunlight. It had been God knows how long since he’d seen the sun and he could feel his eyes struggling to adjust. Joel seemed almost cruel in the way he looked at Michael, and Michael swallowed.

The longer the two of them had been partners, the more Michael realized how much he and Joel did not get along. Michael always felt like there was something predatory in the way Joel acted towards him, towards people they arrested. It turned his stomach over in knots to see him here, and he glanced over to Gavin. Gavin almost seemed bored.

“Do you have the cash?” he asked, holding his hand out for a case Joel carried. The gun Gavin kept tucked under his jacket briefly flashed out at Joel.

“Of course I have the cash,” Joel replied, holding out the briefcase for Gavin to take it. Gavin did just that, setting it on a cement block to check that it had all the cash. Michael felt disgusted and, not for the first time, fought off tears in Gavin’s presence. Joel was buying him- Michael had been right about Joel this whole time.

He considered running away and letting them shoot him in the back or the head, but he wondered if they would really do that. If Joel would want that. His jaw was held open by something hard, and he wondered if it was the bit gag he’d seen used for multiple purposes in Gavin’s office. Hell, he’d been a part of at least two different purposes now. Michael squeezed his eyes shut as Gavin shook Joel’s hand.

A smile that did not at all sit right with Michael came over Joel’s face. If this was the first time he saw Joel do something creepy, then maybe it would slip past him. Michael, however, was Joel’s partner for a few years before going undercover with the mafia. Joel had always been bitter with Michael’s assignment, since Michael was the junior detective.

The deal done, the man shoved Michael into Joel’s awaiting arms. Joel wrapped an arm around him, bopping Michael’s noise. “You’re a pretty little thing that I can’t wait to add to my collection,” he said. Michael realized then that this was not Joel buying him for fun. This was Joel acting undercover. Something still...didn’t feel right, in Michael’s chest. He glanced back as Joel led him away, to see Gavin’s face. It almost seemed to be full of...regret?

They made their way to Joel’s car, where Joel kept up the act, touching all over Michael. Michael felt sick to his stomach. He wanted to go back, realizing now that he felt safer with Gavin, a mafia boss out to kill him, than he did with Joel. Joel however, led him to the car and pushed him gently against it, unbuckling the bit and holding Michael’s head in his hands.

“Well, I’m glad your still alive,” he said, softly, staring into Michael’s eyes as if they were long lost lovers.

Michael tried not to look to disgusted or maybe disappoint while Joel undid his wrists, deciding instead to just nod his head. “How long have I been gone?” Michael asked.

“Do you mean since you went undercover, or since we lost contact with you?” Joel asked back, smoothing his hands over Michael’s curls, which had grown out on top. When he went undercover, he shaved his head bald, but he’d been with Gavin and Jack for years, and had long since decided he missed his curls. He went with something akin to the ‘modern’ men’s haircuts, leaving the only length in his curls sitting on top of his head. He didn’t want to be too recognizable as Michael Jones, ‘City’s Best Cop’. He needed to be Michael Johnson, and honestly it was a miracle he managed to stay undercover as long as he did.

“Both?” Michael asked softly. “You...lose track of time, fighting for your life everyday.”

He did not want to tell Joel about the romance which blossomed and subsequently crashed and burned over the years, and he certainly didn’t want to think about how life in the mafia felt better than it ever had as a cop. He didn’t even kill anybody, really. He was just some sort of glorified eye candy for most of it, and he liked it. He wasn’t supposed to like being a trophy boyfriend, but god did he. He got some of his best information at galas where Gavin and crew fawned over him, and there was a twang of pain as he thought about just what he’d told the police, his brothers in arms.

“You’ve been undercover for...almost 5 years now. I have a new partner, his name is Burnie? I think? He’s an old cop like me and I hate him,” Joel said, and Michael felt a fleeting hand run down his face. “We lost contact with you 3 months ago.”

Had it really only been three months? A part of Michael could swear it was longer, and a part of Michael swore it was shorter. He’d probably never forget the look on Gavin face when he was found out, all while Michael was recovering from food poisoning in a privately owned, mafia sided hospital. Food poisoning as in someone put poison in his food, and not as in he’d eaten rat shit. Michael was so sure he’d die that day.

“...Take me to my apartment or something,” Michael said. He didn’t want to get trapped in the car with Joel now.

Joel got into the car and shook his head. “You think the police department has the budget to keep your apartment after 5 years?” Joel asked with a laugh. “I’ll take you to my apartment.”

Michael sunk into the passenger seat, staring out the window as Joel drove. He felt like this nightmare grew ever more prevalent, rather than suddenly being freed from it. The city seemed so different now, in Joel’s beat Chevy Malibu, through a dirty windshield. Everything was uncomfortable and smelled so deeply like cigarette smoke it made Michael’s stomach turn over.

He couldn’t easily go back to life before he went undercover. He knew when he took the job that was going to be an issue, but he hadn’t expected it to be so much of an issue. Michael sat back in his chair, an armchair in Joel’s living room, trying to piece his life back together from those 5 years missed. He could go see his family, or his old friends now, but he found that he didn’t really want to. His mind, more often than not, drifted to Jack and Gavin, hoping they were okay.

He was on desk work at the office as he acclimated back into his life, doing all of Joel’s back logged paperwork. Michael hated it, though he took it ‘home’ with him in order to get through it faster.

Joel’s apartment would never be home to him. Especially now, now that Joel had drunkenly confessed his feelings about Michael. There was no love in his voice as he described how much he’d missed seeing Michael’s ass in the tight uniform pants, or how he hoped Michael grew his hair out so that there was something to hold onto.

Michael and Joel had done some stuff before he’d up and left for 5 years, but they’d never felt right. Now that Michael knew what it felt like to be pampered and really, genuinely loved, he wanted nothing to do with Joel.

He noticed as time passed that it was making Joel angrier and angrier and there was honestly a part of Michael that worried about what Joel might do. He was sure there were weapons hidden all over the apartment, and Joel had a worrying track record with assault. Michael knew he could only hold him off for so much longer.

The rain beat down on the apartment window one night, Michael curled up in the armchair he now considered to be his home. Joel was stretched out on the couch, the two of them watching some TV show Michael really had no interest in. Joel tapped the remote against his mouth.

“I can’t believe they took me off the case,” he said, glancing over to Michael.

Michael had heard earlier in the day that Joel had been removed from the mafia case due to his closeness to Michael. Michael could certainly believe it, after hearing about all the things Joel wanted to do to Gavin and Jack for ‘hurting his partner’. Michael got a bitter taste in his mouth and played dumb.

“Oh? So you won’t be joining anyone on the…raid? That’s happening in a few days?” he asked. Just the thought of the raid made Michael uncomfortable honestly. He hoped that Jack and Gavin were somewhere far away where they couldn’t be hurt, but he had his doubts. He was starting to wonder if he turned into a bad guy after 5 years.

“That’s certainly what they think. I’m going to beat them to the punch, bring everyone in early,” Joel said, grumbling. It wasn’t the first time Michael heard of Joel going against a direct order, or even breaking the law for an arrest. His stomach turned over.

“Well, I’d like to go with you then,” he said. He wasn’t sure why. He certainly didn’t want to be there when Joel arrested his exes, or hurt somebody he knew. Were they even his exes?

Joel however, looked over and grinned. “You’re getting back on your feet, sounds like!” he said excitedly. Michael tried not to grimace, going for some bastardization of a smile and nodding his head.

Joel’s car somehow smelled worse when they hadn’t been in it for a while. Michael sat in the passenger seat, incredibly tense as Joel loaded two guns- one for himself and one for Michael. Michael wasn’t even legally allowed to hold one yet, he thought. He took it anyway, feeling as though he might need it later, for something. Anything.

The warehouse loomed before them in the dark. Michael visited here a few times, though in the day, usually dressed down to be brought around by Jack. Gavin almost never came by, though he didn’t doubt he might be inside. It was the main hub for their activities in the city. It was more to Jack’s side of the action.

Michael hoped neither were inside as he and Joel got out of the car. Michael tucked the gun, safety on, into his pants and pulled his shirt over it. Joel did not do the same, clearly planning on going in guns blazing. He wondered if, after this was all said and done, blackmail was a viable option to keep Joel the hell away from him. He followed the other man closely as he went in through a side door Michael never noticed.

The inside of the warehouse was not the flurry of activity Michael had come to expect of Jack’s side hustles. In fact, there were relatively few people inside the building at all. Michael hoped Jack knew about the raid and plannedon moving everything.

Joel grabbed his wrist and pulled him behind a crate or two, ducking down. “I’m going to go after the big guy. You look for anything incriminating, why don’t you. Make yourself useful,” Joel said, almost immediately afterwards slipping off into the warehouse.

Michael had already decided that he didn’t want toincriminate Jack or Gavin, but he snuck off on his own, towards the room he knew Jack used as an office. It was towards this side door, Michael noted, and no one was around it. The door open a crack. Michael took a deep breath before pushing it open.

Jack’s back faced him, and piles of paper were stacked up in the corner. ‘Good,’ Michael thought, ‘they know about the raid.’ He didn’t know Michael opening the door, so Michael slipped in and shut it quietly behind him, not wanting to alert Joel to where he was.

“...Jack?” Michael called quietly, full aware Jack could whip around and shoot him without hesitation.

Jack’s body froze, and Michael tensed up against the door, shutting his eyes tight. He heard some papers shuffle, as if the sound of Michael’s voice wasn’t Jack’s main priority. The cold metal of a gun barrel pressed up under his chin.

“What’re you doing here?” came Jack’s gruff voice. Michael swallowed against the feeling of the gun, not for the first time in his life.

“I- My old partner, he’s trying to arrest you. I came in here to warn you-” Michael squeaked out, clutching the doorknob and holding it shut. Anything to keep Joel out.

“You’ve got guts then...raid’s not for a few more days. What’s he doing lurking in here?” Jack asked, the gun not leaving Michael’s jaw.

“He’s mad because he got taken off the case because of how close we….were, before I went undercover. Joel is willing to break the law just to- to squeeze by, on stuff like this,” Michael said.

Jack didn’t seem all that impressed and he pulled Michael away from the door, giving him a quick pat down. “Oh? And why’s this gun here? I thought you’d come to beg for your old life back, and yet you have a loaded weapon. I should kill you where you stand,”

“You won’t,” Michael replied. “You- you didn’t even take the gun from me.”

Jack narrowed his eyes then. “You must really hate your partner or love being some sort of eye candy. I don’t know which is worse,” he said, shaking his head as he went about clearing out incriminating paperwork. “Get going then. Get your partner out of here, and maybe I’ll call off the hit I put out on the two of you.”

Michael didn’t know if he believed that there was really a hit on himself. He could see their being one on Joel, but as far as he knew, Jack and Gavin were ruthless killers. Nothing gave them pause. Nothing. He’d seen them kill children, but they wouldn’t kill him. Michael worried his lip and asked, “Where will the two of you go?”

Jack snarled at him. “What did I just tell you, Michael? Why would I tell some dirty, no good spy two-faced whore where Gavin and I are going? Did you think we wanted you _back_?” he demanded, slamming his hands on the wood of his desk. Michael flinched and he heard a small amount of commotion. Joel had been found out. A disturbing smile came over Jack’s face.

“Well, looks like I don’t have to deal with the pig after all. Get out, and I’ll tell my men to wait on opening fire,” Jack said, leering down to Michael.

Michael did open the door then, only to find that Joel standing right outside with his gun raised. He seemed surprised to see Michael in the doorway, but he shoved past him and held the gun up to Jack, shouting.

Michael couldn’t really understand what Joel said. He didn’t even have time to think- Jack was reaching quick for a weapon, and Joel was still shouting. Within the blink of an eye, Michael had his gun pulled. He fired three shots into Joel’s neck and watched as he crumpled to the ground. Wide eyed, Michael dropped the gun, and his body started to shake.

Jack seemed equally surprised, breathing quick. “What did you do!” he shouted, watching blood pool out onto his floor with wide eyes.

“I don’t know! I don’t know-” Michael said in a panic, looking to Jack as his body began to shake, almost violently. “Jack what do I do-”

A worry came over the older man’s expression and he came around the table to see exactly what the damage was. “...We’ll burn down the building with him in it. I’ll pull his teeth,” Jack said, waving Michael away. “Go sit in the car I’ll deal with you later!”

Michael rushed out of the building with a jacket Jack wrapped around his torso. Michael still didn’t know what he’d done, but he honestly felt freer now than he had when Joel bought him. He’d been with Joel for only a week and a half, and yet it felt like years. Joel’s drunken advances, unwanted behaviors, and overall just assholery made Michael very, very happy to be in Jack’s car, even if he thought Jack would kill him. At least he’d die by someone he’d loved.

He sat in silence in the passenger seat of Jack’s unmarked black SUV, digging around in the glove-box. He knew from experience that Jack kept sleeping pills in the car in case there was an emergency. Michael certainly felt like this counted. A gun, registration papers, and a pack of nitrile gloves fell out, revealing the bottle of sleeping pills there. They were in an iron pill bottle, but Michael knew what they really were. Gavin liked to sleep on long car rides, and it was good to have for kidnap victims. He pulled two out of the bottle, sighing deeply as he stared at them. Jack could wake him up, and he’d feel refreshed.

Someone tapped on the window of his side, and Michael jumped so hard that both pills went flying. Almost fearfully, he looked up to see Jack making his way to the driver seat, and people filing out of the building behind him. He could just see the beginnings of an orange glow. Jack had cleaned up, and changed clothes.

Michael gripped the bottle in his one hand as Jack got in. “If you take those to get out of talking to me, I might just throttle you,” Jack said, starting up the car.

“You’re the one who hurt me,” Michael replied. “And yet I still helped you….for some...ungodly reason,” he said softly.

“And you got how many of my men arrested? This raid was done with information you undoubtedly gave the cops. I’ve had so many chances to do so much worse to you Michael, believe me. What’s your real name?” Jack asked, his voice entirely harsh and biting.

“...Michael Jones,” he said softly. “The city’s top up and comer.”

Jack laughed as they drove. Michael saw a blaze start building in the distance and thought of Joel’s bloodied body. He killed Joel. “The city’s top up and comer. Hilarious. You shot a cop,” he said.

“I know I shot my partner-” Michael said, but Jack cut him off.

“Why?” was all he asked. Michael slumped in the seat as he tried to think of a response. Joel was...a sleazeball. A bad cop, at best. His partner. Michael killed him. Michael killed him to save Jack, who undoubtedly would have shot him on his own.

“I wanted to...prove myself. Maybe...5 years of undercover work really fucked me up,” Michael said. “Gavin always said the way to right your wrongs in the mafia was to kill them.”

“And Gavin was right. But that doesn’t mean you are,” Jack said. There were a few bumps as they sped away from the warehouse district. Jack wasn’t taking the way Michael knew. Was this going to be it? How often had Michael asked himself that?

“What do you mean?” Michael asked, having to force himself to turn and look at Jack. A man he’d loved for nearly 4 years.

“You think I’m going to forgive you for selling us out to the cops? For being a cop this whole fucking time?” he asked, glaring a bit. “I have to move everything. Gavin has to move everything. We have to leave the city- hell, maybe even the country! All because of you. Saving my life isn’t going to change how much to betrayed me, and now I have to take you to Gavin and decide what the fuck to do with you.”

Michael grew tense in the seat next to him, shuddering a bit as he watched the city pass. He swallowed thickly and pressed up against the door as Jack rubbed his face.

“I don’t even want to kill you!” he shouted, as if it was the craziest thing he’d ever said. “I don’t even want to kill you. Can you believe that? I love you so much that I didn’t want to kill you.”

“...You sold me off to be a sex slave,” Michael said softly, frowning a bit as he looked over at Jack. He had his hands tucked underneath his knees out of nervous habit.

“I know- and it was the wrong decision. We regretted it, from the moment we did it- I would rather you be dead in the bay than raped every day,” he said. Michael saw his free leg twitching, bouncing up and down as he drove. “Now I will, I suppose.”

Michael knew that he could get out of the car. He knew that. But a part of him hoped he could somehow worm his way back into Gavin and Jack’s lives. He wondered if he had Stockholm syndrome. He’d seen both men do terrible things over the past five years, but he’d seen the love and affection too. He leaned his head against the cool glass of the window and watched the city’s lights pass by.

They arrived at Gavin’s location all too quickly, Jack pulling into a parking spot and getting out of the car. Michael hesitated but got out, following after him. It was like Jack expected that of him. He didn’t even look back to see if Michael really was coming. He didn’t acknowledge Michael’s presence as they got into an elevator together, and he let a door swing back on Michael’s face as they passed into Gavin’s apartment.

Gavin stood in his emptying living room, men hustling about him, packing up his things and hurrying out with boxes. Michael assumed they were going out to the semi truck, which had the name of a food retailer. Gavin had an arsenal of trucks like that, with logos and brands that in no way belonged to him. He seemed surprised to see Michael there, glancing between him and Jack. Jack looked tired, and the two of them headed down the hallway to one of the rooms. It left Michael standing quite awkwardly in the living room as Gavin’s men bustled around him.

Was he going to die? Were they going to let him live? What were they talking about in there? He didn’t know, so he swayed from side to side on his feet, waiting. Watching the door he saw the two of them disappear into. It felt like hours before they came out again, Gavin striding out of the room to push Michael into the wall and hold his chin. The man had a height advantage on him.

“How do you feel about the pacific northwest?” Gavin asked, his voice mildly angry and laced with British tone.

“I don’t know. I’ve never been there,” Michael answered, honestly.

Gavin took a deep breath in, staring Michael in the eyes as he seemingly made some sort of decision. “You’re moving there,” he said, very factually. “Or you can move to the bottom of the Hudson.”

Michael felt his heart shatter but he nodded his head. He was so hoping to win them over, but that wasn’t the case. He let the sadness hit him in a wave, fighting off the tears that threatened to spill over.

Gavin popped a pair of handcuffs on his hands and Michael froze, staring at them and then up at Gavin, his eyes searching. Gavin pat his cheek and gave him a bitter smile. “Can’t have you trying to escape out of our car,” he said. Confusion was palpable on Michael’s face.

The drive over was nothing to write home about. It was beyond boring, buckled into the backseat with his hands cuffed in front of him. Michael was desperate for something to do over the course of the ride, but the car was totally silent. Jack drove, and made it very clear to Michael early on that he had no interest in talking to him. Gavin slept in the passenger seat. When Michael tried to sing to the songs on the radio, Jack would turn it off.

As they reached Seattle, 2 days from when they started, Michael slumped over against the window. He’d woken up from a nap nearly an hour ago and just hadn’t moved at all. Gavin and Jack spoke quietly up front, and Michael tried his best to ignore it. Seattle was far more interesting to look at than anything else he’d seen thus far. Tall buildings, dreary weather, and tons of cars passing by.

Not a soul knew who any of them were, or what had dragged its ass into the city. Michael was almost entertained by the anonymity. He heard Jack say something about being 5 minutes away from the new apartment, and Gavin reached over and smacked Michael’s knee. Michael jumped and whipped around to look at him.

“Wipe your face off. You look gross with drool all over you face,” he said, holding out a napkin to Michael. Michael’s hands moved in sync to grab the napkin up and then wipe his face off. He made a grossed out noise when he felt just how much drool had dried on his face. The car stopped not long after, and Michael saw a familiar semi truck sitting in front of an old building.

“The new apartment?” he asked, frowning. He didn’t imagine Gavin would have him clean himself up if they planned to kill him in Seattle.

“Our new apartment,” Gavin said, unbuckling and getting out of the car. “Hurry up. We need to get inside,” he said, glancing Michael’s way.

Michael rushed to unbuckle, not wanting to try his luck anymore than he already had. He got out of the car and shook his head as a light sprinkling of rain hit his curly hair. The building was massive as Michael looked up at it, and he frowned a bit, trying to figure out what floor they’d be on. He hoped it wasn’t a penthouse. Heights scared him.

Gavin handed him a box out of the car. It wasn’t particularly heavy, but it hid the fact that his hands were cuffed rather well from any prying eyes, and then Gavin led him quickly into the building.

The lobby of the apartment was luxurious. Marble floors, ornate wooden details, plush couches. Michael expected no less from the amount of money Gavin had, but still, seeing it was something else. Gavin pushed him right to the elevator, and it opened without them having to wait too long. Gavin pushed Michael inside and then, to his worst fear, Gavin hit the button for the top floor. Michael leaned against the back of the elevator and grumbled a bit.

“Don’t mope so much, Micool,” Gavin said, using an affectionate pet name. “I could have left you dead in New York. But I’m giving you another chance, because you saved Jack’s life,” he said.

Michael blushed and looked at the floor of the elevator instead of back up at Gavin. It had the same marble floor as the lobby, and part of Michael wondered what sort of money had paid for something like that.

After not too long, the elevator door opened to a hallway. There were two doors- one very close to the elevator, and one that was much further down the hallway. Gavin grabbed Michael by his cuffs and pulled him to the farther door. A skeleton key opened the door, to show that much of what Gavin owned had already been moved into the apartment. None of it was set up, but it was in the apartment. Gavin pulled Michael to the couch and shoved him to sit on it.

“You could just ask,” Michael said softly, putting the box down next to him as Gavin leered over him. Never before had Gavin seemed so threatening, but Michael had been a cop before. Not now. He had no one who could help him now, and he realized that Gavin knew that too.

“Alright, Michael, here are the rules. You? Staying in the apartment with Jack and me. We’re going to lay low for a while. If you fuck up, at all, I will throw you from the balcony over there. Do as I say, and maybe I’ll trust you again,” Gavin says, grabbing his chin and holding him there. It was all Michael could do to nod. With their rules solidified, Gavin walked off to beginning unpacking the apartment.

– ONE YEAR LATER –

The sun was just barely beginning to creepy into the apartment. Jack was long gone from bed, off on some mission for Gavin that would be taking him up into Canada. Michael rolled over, in a soft night shirt and nothing else, to lace his fingers with Gavin’s. Gavin’s hands fascinated him now- more so than they ever had. They were so long and slender compared to his own, and they wrapped around his neck beautifully. Michael had the bruises from last night to prove it. Gavin made a sound as Michael moved closer to him, but didn’t actually move. A choker rest on Michael’s neck, acting as a thin, voluntary collar. He plumped up his pillow and shut his eyes, trying to drift back off to sleep.

“Micooooooooooooool,” Gavin mumbled, eyes still asleep. Michael cracked an eye open then and laughed a little, teasingly.

“Yes, sir?” he asked, trying to sound sleepy. He heard Gavin chuckle and then, without warning, Gavin grabbed him and shoved him under the covers. Michael grinned as his favorite activity of the mornings was finally happening, and he peeled back Gavin’s pants to give him his morning blowjob. It was nice to be the trophy husband of the mafia godfather, sometimes.


End file.
